Last week, Sheila Jacobs stepped into the role as Russellville High School’s interim principal following Sammy Ussery’s abrupt resignation, a position she finds both humbling, exciting, and challenging.

“I thought that this was an absolutely incredible opportunity,” she said. “The primary thing I was thinking was the responsibility and impact that we together as Russellville High School could have on students.”

It’s also a position that she finds familiar. Jacobs has worked at the school for the last two months — filling in for an assistant principal who has been on maternity leave — in addition to having taught at the school for a five-year stint in the early ‘90s and having worked with several teachers directly as a director of secondary instruction.

“I spent a lot of time in this building with teachers, working with them in the classroom and with professional development,” she said. “Actually, this feels kind of like home.”

Jacobs finds herself well-suited for the job, bringing a laundry list of credentials to the position. She has Master’s degrees in both English and curriculum administration, and she boasts over 20 years of experience in education, including a decade of work as an administrator and 15 years as an English and journalism teacher.

She is also an adjunct faculty at Arkansas Tech’s Center for Leadership and Learning, where she teaches future administrators. Additionally, she has served on multiple state-level committees, including the Arkansas Ethics Board, and has served on the National Curriculum Association Board.

But Jacobs doesn’t want it to be all about her. She wants it to be about the students and their teachers, the cornerstones of education at any school.

“I truly am very student-centered,” she said. “To me, what happens in the classroom every day is the most important thing that goes on in the school.”

In just a week as principal, Jacobs has already begun implementing student-centered policies.

She intends to form a student advisory group that she would meet with periodically in an informal setting, a type of forum where students can express their thoughts on a multitude of issues, including policies that could improve the school.

“I want the students on the committee to rotate, so I can hear various voices,” she said. “[The students] have great ideas, they just need a forum to express those ideas.”

Jacobs will have her fair share of challenges as principal. With new standards and a new evaluation system being put in place next year, she will be part of the effort to educate teachers about the new evaluation system.

But she understands that change is part of education — and the transition will be smoothed over by a great team of educators.

“As a school administrator, you have to be very well-versed in change. That’s just part of being in the school business,” she said. “But I am extremely happy to be here.”

“I sincerely think that we have the best teachers in the state,” she continued. “It’s an excellent team.”

While Jacobs was hired initially as an interim principal, she is also in the running to be hired to the position permanently. But regardless of the length of her tenure at the position, she will bring an energy and ambition to the position by making sure the high school does one thing: works as a team.

“We’re one part of an entire system,” she said. “The focus needs to be on how well we work as a system towards a common goal, which is educating the whole student. We’re not just separate schools in the district. I want to promote hearing people’s voices and making collaborative decisions.”